Within the Asylum
by Khristallyn
Summary: Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow is always better. Tomorrow never really comes but you can’t let yourself think that. Tomorrow is on its way. After a year at the Angeles Bay Asylum, Is there still hope for Derek? Trauma Center spoilers


Disclaimer: I down own Trauma Center. Atlus does. If I owned Trauma Center, I would've at least made sure it got its own fanfiction category xP

a/n: Well, this was surprisingly a lot of fun to write. Maybe it's a little more fun to procrastinate writing, but I love procrastination. It's the thief of time. Anyways, here's a better view of the things to come before I start this thing.

Side Note: Italics in quotation marks are direct quotes from Adam in Episode 6-9. Italics without quotation marks are simply Derek's thoughts.

Name: Within the Asylum  
Rating: T  
Pairings: slight DerekxAngie  
Game: Under the Knife  
Possible Spoilers: **If you haven't finished Under the Knife up to 6-9 Adam (which is like, second to last episode) then you should probably stop reading! I don't like spoiling things for peoples…  
**Summary: Derek was never really right in the mind after seeing what was left of Adam, the man behind both Eidoth International and the Delphi organization responsible for GUILT. Can Angie help at all by this point, or has Derek been doomed to spend the rest of his life behind the walls of the Angeles Bay Asylum?

Without further ado, I bring you "Within the Asylum"!

--

"_Is Man's hubris so great that he would violate life by prolonging it?"_

A mournful cry echoed throughout the halls of the Asylum, striking pity into the hearts of those who were not familiar with it. As it so happened, though, these shrieks were not uncommon in this part of the Angeles Bay Asylum, or in any part of the Asylum. People waited behind locked doors for whatever fate accepted them, moaning and grieving until their lungs gave out.

"_I am mankind's origin. …a being who accepts fate without wanting that which is not mine."_

There was nothing more to look forward to then the harsh glare of fluorescent lighting along the seldom-seen halls lined with rooms rank with pain of a new day to simply help what poor souls were still counting lose track. Nothing more to look forward to today or tomorrow then some of the tasteless food from the cafeteria and maybe a bath if you were one of the lucky ones.

"_Only humanity would force others to live lives not their own."_

Another moan followed after the cry, bringing a headache to the man's head. Was he truly a man? Through the eyes of the Asylum's doctors and nurses, he was nothing more than a boy. A small boy lost in the real world where you can no longer look at the world through rose-tinted glasses and where it's only a matter of time before you fall.

His problem, though, was trying to get back up. Wracked with the insanity brought by post-traumatic stress, he was going nowhere fast. Merely a shell of his former self, where there was no title of "Doctor" before his name and no hustle-and-bustle of other surgeons and nurses, rushing to help the broken sliding through the gateway to hope on bloody stretchers around him.

He was just Derek here. Nothing more, nothing less.

"_Can you not see it? I am dead, yet I still live. This is the true fate of mankind."_

"Shut up, Adam," he growled slightly, throwing his head back against the wall behind him.

Adam had taken everything away from him, as far as he was concerned. He had a home, he had friends (although he was aware of the fact, the actual people had long since faded from his memory), and he had a job doing what he loved most- saving lives.

He even liked to think he had a girlfriend who cared about him and was always by his side. They were idle wishes to someone who hadn't spent the night in an asylum, but after a year of being trapped inside these walls, wishes were lifelines. You always had to dream that there was something better. You needed something to help you make it to the next day. Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow is always better. Tomorrow never really comes- but you can't let yourself think that. Tomorrow is on its way.

"_Thus, I have become the last man. I live outside this world, so as not to taint it. I alone have achieved harmony. I know balance."_

"Shut up!" Derek yelled again, closing his eyes. His waking moments were wrought with the torment of listening to Adam preach over and over, while his sleep was filled with nightmares of the day that he had seen the decaying body on the ship after eradicating GUILT "once and for all".

Usually, the nurses chastised him for any talk of Adam. Simply because they had never seen him, they tried to convince Derek that Adam was just a figment of his imagination. How could a figment of his imagination driven him insane?

His thoughts were broken as the door opened to one of the overly-cheery nurses that simply masked all emotions for the fact that one could not possibly stay that happy after seeing all of the broken spirits in the Asylum. "You have a visitor, Derek."

_Visitor? _

A woman walked into the room, wearing attire that was not unlike what he imagined his old hospital scrubs to look like. Actually, by the looks of her, she was just another nurse from some random place.

Derek skittered backwards until he felt the wall against his back, obviously frightened by the unfamiliar person. "You… Adam sent you, didn't he?" he accused, voice shaking slightly as he tried to keep it level. The female in the pink scrubs was just another threat to him, even if there was sympathy in her emerald eyes.

"It's me, Derek. Angie. I know that Adam didn't send me, and you know that Adam didn't send me. I'd never hurt you," she spoke up, taking a step closer to her former colleague when he seemed to calm down slightly.

Truth be told, though, he _didn't _know that Adam hadn't sent her. She might've claimed that they knew each other, but as far as his memory permitted- he never knew anyone named Angie. "Y-You're the first one that didn't tell me that Adam was just a figment of my imagination."

There was a slight pause as Angie realized that there was probably going to be no recognition. Derek's doctor had warned her that he might not remember anything, and yet there had still been that flicker of hope that just seeing her might remind him… "Of course Adam isn't a figment of your imagination. We both know that he's real, but that doesn't make any difference…"

Silence ensued as he slid to the floor, curling his legs underneath himself. _She knows that he's real, too… Who is she? I don't recall any 'Angie'… I don't recall anyone other than Adam…_

"Oh, Derek. I can't bear to see you like this!" Angie cried after a moment longer of silence, lunging forward to pull Derek into a hug. Because of his infernal strait jacket, the only hugs he had gotten in the past year were from himself. Now, wrapped in the arms of an unfamiliar person, he was more or less frozen with no idea of what to do. If even possible, he had forgotten how to jerk away. When the awkward embrace was dropped, he even noticed that the blonde-haired woman was starting to cry.

"Visiting time's up, Miss." the nurse at the door informed, giving Angie one last minute to say her good-byes.

"I'll be back, Derek. I promise." she whispered, looking him in the eye one last time before exiting with the nurse.

_I vaguely remember her…_

He leaned back, giving a slight sigh as he closed his eyes and tried to recall where from.

_She didn't deny Adam's existence…_

The memories were starting to unblurr, but he hadn't quite gotten a grip on any of the faces in them.

_I might not remember her fully, but she was nice. I like her._

_I hope Angie comes back one day. Maybe… Maybe there's hope for me yet._

He grinned, the smile only spreading wider and wider before he burst out into laughter. "Adam, you're just a hoax as far as I'm concerned. The only way I'll ever get over you is if I can laugh in your face. Hah! Someone still cares about me, you dirty hypocrite!"

As quickly as he had started laughing, Derek fell silent again. He was just a small, lost child- remember? Maybe he wasn't quite ready to laugh in the face of his enemies _just yet. _

_I hope she comes back soon._

* * *

More a/n: I hope you enjoyed reading this I had to change the ending around quite a bit, seeing as I hated the way that it turned out quite some times until I got it to (not exactly the note I wanted it to end on...) a better ending then before. Maybe if enough people liked it, I might even write a sequel x3


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